So, what is SEO?

SEO isn’t just for big, shiny businesses anymore (and it certainly doesn’t have to be complicated either)! Simply put, SEO is an organic way for websites to gain more quality traffic.

Authors who utilize good SEO practices can drive traffic to their website and increase book sales and email newsletter signups. SEO can definitely be overwhelming at first, so here are five simple tips to get you started.

1) Do Your Research

Keyword research is, well…key…to developing content that attracts readers. Choosing focused keywords can help you take your blog from zero views to thousands of views. But, how do you know which keywords to include in your website content? Ideally, you’ll want to pick a keyword that isn’t too broad and one that you can most easily rank for.

So, let’s say I’m the author of a couple of chick lit books and I’m writing a blog post about my writing process. Which keywords should I use? “How to write a novel” is way too broad. There are thousands and thousands of people out there who already write blog posts using those exact keywords. But, what if we got more specific? How about “How to write chick lit?”

That’s way more specific and it’s targeting people who are interested in the exact genre I write. So, I’m off to a good start!

Next, you’ll want to research your chosen keywords. One easy way to do this is to use a website like Keyword Tool. While the free version doesn’t show you the search volumes for each term, you can still get a pretty good idea of what’s ranking just by looking at how many phrases show up in the search results.

For example, if you type in “how to write chick lit” into the Keyword Tool search bar, you’ll see that there aren’t a lot of results. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing! Fewer results generally mean you have a better chance of ranking for that keyword.

You can also type your keyword phrase into Google to see what pops up. Which websites are you competing against? Are there millions and millions of blogs using the exact same keywords you’re using? If so, you might want to consider narrowing your focus.

2) Don’t Keyword Stuff

Keyword stuffing is a big no-no in SEO Land. Keyword stuffing is basically when someone tries to manipulate search engine results by “stuffing” as many keywords into a website or post as possible (these often look very unnatural and spammy).

Ideally, you’ll want to incorporate your keyword naturally into your content at least 2-3 times. Additionally, it should appear once in your title, once in a header, and once in your meta description (and there is an awesome free tool that can help you track this, which I will discuss later).

Again, using keywords as naturally as possible here is very important. Don’t try to force keywords if it sounds unnatural. Your readers will notice.

3) Create Genuinely Helpful Content

You can have the best keywords in the world, but they won’t do much if your content isn’t actually helpful.

Continuing with my chick lit author example, what kind of blog posts would I want to create to drive more quality traffic to my site? I could write articles about my specific writing process (i.e. How to write chick lit). Around the holidays, I might want to put together a gift guide of the top chick lit books to give as gifts (and of course include my own book on there!).

The sky’s the limit when you’re creating content for your blog. You just need to make sure it’s relevant to your audience (i.e. people who love to read and write chick lit).

4) Use Free Tools Like Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO is a free WordPress plugin (there is a paid option, however, the free option has worked wonders for me in the past).

One of Yoast SEO’s most helpful features is that it “rates” your blog post on how well it meets good SEO standards. This feature is useful if you aren’t quite familiar with good SEO practices now, or forget some of the basics. There is also a section where you can update your page’s title tag and meta description (great opportunities to include your keyword!).

5)  Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different keywords on your website. Which posts drive the most traffic? Which posts have the most engagement? See if you can expand on them. And if something doesn’t work, try something else!

I’m not going to lie, seeing results from your SEO efforts does take time. However, if you’re already posting consistently (or have several articles already written), it’s very simple to optimize your pages after the fact.

Back to you, writers! Are you using SEO on your website? What tips and tricks do you have? Let me know in the comments!

Manuela Williams is a Las Vegas-based writer and editor. She is the author of Ghost In Girl Costume, which won the 2017 Hard To Swallow Chapbook Contest. Her second poetry chapbook, Witch, is forthcoming from Dancing Girl Press. When she’s not writing, Manuela is busy drinking coffee and spending time with her blind Pomeranian, Redford. You can connect with her on LinkedIn and Pinterest.

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The Rigorous Road

Everybody’s heard of that one writers’ group member. The one who writes the same poem/short story/novel over and over. Over the years, their work never deepens or develops past the greeting card stage. They’re stuck. While there could be a number of reasons — fear, ignorance, etc. — for their stasis, one culprit is lack of rigor in their writing life.

Rigor is the work (as well as the quality of that work) you invest in learning a skill and gaining mastery over it. Here’s what that means in real time; it takes 20 hours to learn a new skill and 10,000 hours to master it.

Sounds daunting, doesn’t it? I won’t gloss over the effort a mature writing life takes. It requires exactitude, thoroughness, and a methodical approach.

Mapping the Way

I apologize for misleading you a bit here. Sadly, I know of no single step-by-step map to incorporating rigor into your writing life. However, here are key parts to get you started. Instead of focusing on becoming a better writer, methodically work on a specific process goal. Ultimately, all process goals lead back to your original goal better writing.

Choose a specific process goal

Such as improving dialogue skills. Track your progress using tools which suit your writing practice. I use Google Docs; I find the simpler, the better works for me. Some writers prefer spreadsheet programs and other specialty apps.

Research

Compile a list of best practitioners from librarians, critics, and other authors as well as your own favorites. Analyze how the experts’ work differ from each other and your own. Make notes on your impressions and any memorable writing excerpts. Make a list of the books and articles you read.

Write

Use elements of the experts’ work in producing your own. Record what techniques spurred your imagination, how much you write, and the frequency of writing.

Quality control

The underlying goal is to improve your writing. Choose critique partners and beta readers to act as quality control. Their editing and feedback helps to illuminate your weak spots and strengths.

Compass Points

Use your writing faults, gifts, and curiosity as the lens to direct your goals

If dialogue is your achilles heel, delve into the novels of Elmore Leonard and Jen Frederick. Your descriptions are lyric masterpieces, so revel in Erin Morgenstern and Jonathan Safran Foer.

Read (and write) with increasing complexity

Stretch your reach; read outside your comfort zone. If you usually read cozy mysteries, pick up a sci-fi short story collection. If romances dominate your reading time, read across the romance spectrum from Amish to shape shifter, historical to sci-fi and beyond. Read romances written by women of color. Pick up an asexual romance.

Experiment with different writing forms

Check out other genres such as ghazals, 10-minute plays, creative nonfiction, and songwriting.

Don’t neglect the role serendipity plays in the writing life

Collect the things that make you curious. Your collections need not be physical; snapshots and recordings easily serve as keepsakes. Stay open to the unexpected —  meeting a new writer, an invitation to collaborate, or an intriguing new topic.

Companions for the Journey

Any new endeavor generates questions. A safe place to ask is a necessity.

College courses and writing workshops encourage participants to ask questions in and outside of class hours. However, many of us can’t quite fit a semester-long class or intensive workshop into our budgets or schedules.

This is where writing groups — in-person and online — shine.  Most groups have members across the spectrum from newbie to professional writers and published authors.

I belong to two Facebook writing groups: “The Write Life Community and Writer’s Digest Community Discussion & Critique. The Write Life group, run by TheWriteLife.com, is a public Facebook group with 18,175 members. The Writer’s Digest group is a closed Facebook group but membership requests are evaluated and approved within 2 business days. It has 641 members. In both, questions are responded to quickly by multiple members to provide a well-rounded answer.

Sometimes it’s best to be one of a crowd and try new things with other newbies. My library writing group explores writing outside members’ usual genres. The group has hosted songwriting workshops and poetry open mics, as well as talks on fan fiction and the importance of memorization on writing.

Another way to get answers is DIY MFA’s newest column, Ask the Editor, written by Elisabeth Kauffman.  The Q&A column addresses “the nuts and bolts of the craft, the wit and whimsy of imagination”.

Rigor doesn’t have an expiration date. You never outgrow the necessity (or desire) to be a better writer. I won’t promise you’ll be the best writer in the world if you take a rigorous approach to writing. But I can promise you’ll become the best writer you can be.

Brenda Joyce Patterson is a poet, writer, librarian, and lover of short writing forms. Her poetry and flash fiction have been published in Vayavya, Gravel Magazine, and Melancholy Hyperbole. Along with works by Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Alice Walker, her travel essay “The Kindness of Strangers” appeared in Go Girl: The Black Woman’s Guide to Travel and Adventure.

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